Nick Denton Thinks The Web Needs More Service Journalism

In his August internal memo, Gawker
chief Nick
Denton tells staff, "There's
too much news on the web; and way too little explanation," a
sentiment encouraged by the fact that a quarter of Gawker Media's
top stories are its servicey posts.

Kevin Purdy's highly informative
story about the effects of caffeine on the brain in Lifehacker
was the breakout story of July. And the reader interest in the
piece highlights -- do we really need a reminder? -- the draw of
the explanation. There's too much news on the web; and way too
little explanation. Fully a quarter of the top stories are
straight how-tos or otherwise helpful or informative.

Do we really need any reminders of the other patterns either? The
stories to which people respond are the stories to which they've
always responded, since way before the internet. Readers enjoy
strong opinion, such as Charlie Jane's attack on Night Shyamalan.
They like mysteries, especially photoshop mysteries, as Gizmodo
demonstrated with its coverage of BP's photoshopped PR pic.

They like photographs generally, as Gawker demonstrated with its
package of exclusive pics of Mark Zuckerberg doing dorky Silicon
Valley things. And video: Adrian Chen's slight item on a man with
a hard-on for Sarah Palin was more popular than most wordier
pieces.

We haven't been known for great yarns, leaving that to long-form
publications such as magazines. But Jezebel's story about the
clueless secretary, told through an email thread, showed how a
narrative can work. (Jezebel was the star site of the month;
though Gawker, io9 and Lifehacker also came in strong.)

Other patterns? Well, there were four stories featuring teenagers
in the top 20; the 11-year-old girl abused by the evil trolls of
4chan; the 15-year-old who tricked Apple; the 17-year-old who
swapped a phone for a Porsche; and the 19-year old extorted by
the world's worst person. In terms of web interest, we know that
female trumps male. Youth also trumps age.

Take a look through the full list below of Gawker Media's most
viral stories. It's seriously the best guide to web journalism
there is. Every story that made it onto that list had to be both
interesting and well-packaged. If you can get just a few of your
pieces onto that list each month, you're golden; both here and at
any future media job.

Though I can't say I recommend Dash Bennett's approach, which was
to run subject lines from emails I had sent him over the year.
That item scraped in at #100.

Or course, there are plenty more gems among the thousands of
stories that we put out each month, among those that don't make
it into the Top 100. I'm just going to mention one. If you have a
moment, read Joel Johnson's advice to people who take their phone
affiliation way way too seriously. It's as good a piece as you'll read
anywhere.

EXCLUSIVE FREE SLIDE DECK:The Future of Media by Henry Blodget and the BI Intelligence Research Team.Get the Slide Deck Now »